New Mexico governor Bill Richardson signed into law two bills yesterday that pave the way for the development of a commercial spaceport in the state. One bill creates the New Mexico Spaceport Authority and gives it the ability to issue bonds for spaceport construction, while another gives local governments the ability to hold referenda on gross receipts taxes to finance a share of the spaceport. (State funding for the spaceport was included in a separate capital expenditures measure.)
Separately, the state has also signed off on an investment of up to $20 million in Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space), contingent on the company winning a ISS COTS contract from NASA in the coming months. In return, t/Space would set up operations in the state. The AP article about the investment buried the news at the bottom of the article, electing to lead off instead with a $13-million loan to film a movie in the state starring Jessica Simpson. “The interest-free loan comes after Simpson and her parents recently had dinner at the Governor’s Mansion.” Well, tough to compete with that.
